Maryland fire departments face recruitment shortage as young job-seekers look elsewhere: 'We'll be in trouble'

Maryland fire departments could be significantly short-staffed without enough new recruits, some locals fear.

The Baltimore Banner reported on Sunday that central Maryland fire departments have fallen to fewer than 1000 members across 45 stations with 80 vacant and budgeted positions.

From May to November 2023, the report noted that only about 1,400 new people applied for positions with only 39 applicants successfully advancing to the fire academy. This represented a dramatic drop from prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw up to 3,000 to 5,000 applicants.

"Today, we’re fine," Maryland Association of Counties assistant director Dominic Butchko said. "But in five, 10, 15 years, if recruitments are still not coming in at the level we need, and retirements are continuing at pace, we’ll be in trouble."

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Different departments stated that while there is no central reason behind this drop, multiple factors could be influencing recruit reluctance. Primarily, Prince George’s County job recruiters claimed that fire departments are competing with higher-paying remote work for younger recruits.

"We compete with travel jobs, IT, work from home: COVID exposed that, all day," Kirk Spencer, a firefighter and medic assigned as the Fire/EMS Department recruiter, said. "This is: show up, get your hands dirty. It’s cold, it’s hot and hard all the time."

Others have suggested a generational shift in interest in being a firefighter with less passion for getting involved with the community. 

"It is a different applicant," Yolanda Smedley, human resources manager for the fire department, said. "People aren’t answering the phone. People aren’t coming dressed appropriately for the written test. Basic things."

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In the meantime, the mental, physical and emotional pressures of the job appeared to have taken its toll on remaining workers. Some commented "people are at their breaking point" with mandatory overtime shifts, many working longer than 24 hours a shift. 

"It’s time to create some creative approaches to attracting people to the workforce and help them stay there once they’re in it," Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems Ted Delbridge said.

In 2023, Maryland lawmakers passed a bill to establish a commission to study the issue and provide recommendations by December. Since then, some have suggested bills that target scholarships, higher education grants and loan repayment assistance that could encourage new recruits. Prince George’s County also placed recruiters in local high schools to find possible "untapped interest."

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According to the Baltimore Banner, Calvert County in particular offers "a minimum starting salary of about $46,000, though many members ultimately earn more with overtime and promotions. After 20 years of service, members can retire with pensions equal to 50% of their highest salary, and will be Social Security eligible at age 65, too. The county pays up to 80% of health care costs both before and after retirement."